War and Roses 1470: The Kingmaker

House of Lancaster

The House of Lancaster was founded by Sir John of Gaunt who was born in the year 1340 and died in 1399. Sir John, the third son of King Edward III, became the Duke of Lancaster in the year 1362. Following the death of King Edward III in 1377 the Duke of Lancaster served as the regent to his then ten year old nephew King Richard II. The House of Lancaster would come to rule England and Wales in the year 1399 when Sir Henry of Bolingbroke, the eldest son of the Duke of Lancaster, usurped power from his cousin King Richard, having him murdered in the Tower of London sometime in the winter of 1400.

The current head of the House of Lancaster is King Henry VI, the only son and heir of King Henry V who ruled as King of England from the year 1422 until the year 1461 when he was overthrown by force in favor of Edward of York. King Henry’s heir is Edward of Westminster, the Prince of Wales. Henry’s chronic madness has meant that he is purely a figurehead; a tired and broken old man of 49 years of age. As such his fierce French wife, Queen Margaret of Anjou and the Prince of Wales, rule in his stead.